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Johns Hopkins University. 



INAUGURATION OF 



PRESIDENT GILMAN, 



JF'ebruarj' 22d, 7876. 



TRUSTEES. 



'President : 

GALLOWAY CHESTON. 

2reasurer: 

FKANCIS WHITE. 

Secreia?y: 

WILLIAM HOPKINS. 

Soard of Trustees: 

GALLOWAY CHESTON, 
FRANCIS T. KING, . 
LEWIS N. HOPKINS, 
THOMAS M. SMITH, 
WILLIAM HOPKINS, 
JOHN W. GARRETT, 
Jttdgk GEORGE W. DOBBIN, 
JuDQK GEORGE W. VI. BROWN, 

Dr. JAMES C. THO'MAS, 

CHARLES J. M. GWINN, 

KEVERDY JOHNSON, 

FRANCIS WHITE. 



ADDRESSES 



AT THE INAUGURATION OF 



DANIEL C. GILMAN. 



President of the Johns Hopkins University, 



Baltimore, I'ebruary 22, 7876. 



u. b. 




BALTIMORE: 
Printed by John Murphy & Co. 

182 Baltimore Street. 
18U. 



<lr 



INTRODUCTION. 

The public exercises connected with the Inauguration of the 
first President of the Johns Hopkins University, were held in the 
Academy of Music, in Baltimore, Tuesday, February 22d, 1876. 
His Excellency, the Governor of Maryland ; his Honor, the Mayor 
of Baltimore ; the Presidents and representative Professors of 
a large Dumber of Universities and Colleges ; the Trustees and 
other officers of the scientific, literary and educational institutions 
of Baltimore ; the State and City officers of public instruction 
and other invited guests, together with the Trustees of Johns Hop- 
kins, occupied the platform. The house was filled with an atten- 
tive audience. 

At eleven o'clock, the chair was taken by the President of the 
Trustees, Mr. Galloway Cheston. The orchestra of the Peabody 
Institute, directed by Professor Asger Hamerik, gave the Over- 
ture to "Aloeste,^' by Gluck. 

A prayer was then offered up by Rev. Alfred M. Randolph, 
D. D., of Emmanuel Church ; after which the Chairman of the 
Executive Committee, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, Jr., said : 

" Our gathering to-day is one of no ordinary interest. From 
all sections of our State, from varied sections of our land, we have 
met at the opening of another avenue to social progress and 
national renown. After two years of pressing responsibility 
and anxious care the Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University, 
present the first detailed account of their trust. Of the difficul- 
ties attending the discharge of their duty ; of the nice balancing 
of judgment; of the careful investigation and continued labor 
called for in the organization of the University, this is not the 
place to speak ; but for the Board of Trustees, I may be allowed 
to claim the credit of entire devotion to the work, and a sincere 



desire to make of the UnivevBity all that the public could expect 
from the generous foundation. Happily, our action is unfettered, 
and where mistakes occur, as occur they must, the will and power 
are at hand to correct them. We may say that the University's 
birth takes place today, and I do not think it mere sentiment, 
should we dwell with interest upon its concurrence with the 
centennial year of our national birth, and the birth day of him who 
led the nation from the throes of battle to maturity and peace. 
But it is not my province to detain you from the exercises which 
are to follow. I am happy to state that we have among us to- 
day one who represents the highest type of American education, 
and one who, from the beginning has sympathized with, coun- 
selled and aided us. I know you anticipate me, as I announce 
the distinguished name, from the most distinguished seat of 
learning in our land — President Eliot, of Harvard University." 

President Eliot next delivered a Congratulatory Address, 

Beethoven's Concert Overture, " The Consecration of the 
House,'''' (C maj., op. 124,) having been performed by the Orches- 
tra, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, Jr., introduced President Oilman, re- 
marking, as he did so, that the University now stands forth 
baptized with ancient Harvard as its sponsor. 

President Oilman then delivered the Inaugural Address. 

At its conclusion, the Orchestra gave Weber's "Jubilee Over- 
ture,^^ (E maj., op. 59.) 

The benediction was pronounced, and at half past one, the 
assembly dispersed. 



CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS 



BY 



CHARLES W. ELIOT, LL.D., 



^7^eside?ii of Jfarrai'd IIniye7'sity. 



PRESIDENT ELIOT'S ADDRESS. 

THE oldest University of the country cordially 
greets the youngest, and welcomes a worthy 
ally — an ally strong in material resources 
and in high purpose. 

I congratulate you, gentlemen, Trustees of 
THE Johns Hopkins University, upon the noble 
work which is before you. A great property, an 
important part of the fruit of a long life devoted 
with energy and sagacity to the accumulation of 
riches, has been placed in your hands, upon con- 
ditions as magnanimous as they are wise, to be 
used for the public benefit in providing for coming 
generations the precious means of liberal culture. 
Your Board has great powers. It must hold and 
manage the property of the University, make all 
appointments, fix all salaries, and, while leaving 
both legislative and administrative details to the 
several faculties which it will create, it must also 
prescribe the general laws of the University. 
Your cares and labor will grow heavy as time 
goes on ; but in accordance with an admirable 
usage, fortunately established in this country, you 
will serve without other compensation than the 

7 



8 

public consideration which will justly attach to 
your office, and the happy sense of being useful. 
The actuating spirit of your Board will be a spirit 
of scrupulous fidelity to every trust reposed in 
you, and of untiring zeal in promoting the welfare 
of the University and the advancement of learn- 
ing. Judged by its disinterestedness, its benefi- 
cence, and its permanence, your function is as pure 
and high as any that the world knows, or in all 
time has known. May the work which you do in 
the discharge of your sacred trust be regarded with 
sympathetic and expectant forbearance by the pre- 
sent generation, and with admiration and gratitude 
by posterity. 

The University which is to take its rise in the 
splendid benefaction of Johns Hopkins must be 
unsectarian. None other could as appropriately 
be established in the city named for the Catholic 
founder of a colony to which all Christian sects 
were welcomed, or in the State in which religious 
toleration was expressly declared in the name of 
the Government for the first time in the history of 
the Christian world. There is a too common 
opinion that a college or university which is not 
denominational must therefore be irreligious; but 
the absence of sectarian control should not be con- 
founded with lack of piety. A university whose 
officers and students are divided among many 
sects need no more be irreverent and irreligious 



than the community which in respect to diversity 
of creeds it resembles. It would be a fearful por- 
tent if thorough study of nature and of man in all 
his attributes and works, such as befits a univer- 
sity, led scholars to impiety. But it does not; on 
the contrary, such study fills men with humility 
and awe, by bringing them on every hand face to 
face with inscrutable mystery and infinite power. 
The whole work of a university is uplifting, re- 
fining and spiritualizing : it embraces 

" Avhatsoever touches life 
With upward impulse ; bo He nowhere else, 
God is in all that liberates and lifts ; 
In all that humbles, sweetens and consoles." 

A university cannot be built upon a sect, unless, 
indeed, it be a sect which includes the whole of the 
educated portion of the nation. This University 
will not demand of its officers and students the 
creed, or press upon them the doctrine of any par- 
ticular religious organization ; but none the less — 
I should better say, all the more — it can exert 
through high-minded teachers a strong moral and 
religious infl.uence. It can implant in the young- 
breasts of its students exalted sentiments and a 
worthy ambition ; it can infuse into their hearts 
the sense of honor, of duty, and of responsibility. 

I congratulate the city of Baltimore. Mr. Mayor, 
that in a few generations she will be the seat of a 
rich and powerful university. To her citizens its 



10 

grounds and buildings will in time become objects 
of interest and pride. The libraries and other col- 
lections of a university are storehouses of the know- 
ledge already acquired by mankind, from which 
further invention and improvement proceed. They 
are great possessions for any intelligent commu- 
nity. The tone of society will be sensibly aifected 
by the presence of a considerable number of highly 
educated men, whose quiet and simple lives are 
devoted to philosophy and teaching, to the exclu- 
sion of the common objects of human pursuit. The 
University will hold high the standards of public 
duty and public spirit, and will enlarge that culti- 
vated class which is distinguished, not by wealth 
merely, but by refinement and spirituality. 

I felicitate the State of Maryland, whose 
Chief Magistrate honors this assembly with 
his presence, upon the establishment within her 
borders of an independent institution of the high- 
est education. The elementary school is not more 
necessary to the existence of a free State than the 
University. The public school system depends 
upon the institutions of higher education, and 
could not be maintained in real efficiency with- 
out them. The function of colleges, universities 
and professional schools, is largely a public func- 
tion ; their work is done j^rimarily, indeed, upon 
individuals, but ultimately for the public good. 
They help powerfully to form and mould aright 



11 



the public character; and that public character 
is the foundation of everything which is precious 
in the State, including even its material prosperity. 
In training men thoroughly for the learned pro- 
fessions of law and medicine, this University will 
be of great service to Maryland and the neighbor- 
ing States. During the past forty years the rules 
which governed admission to these honorable and 
confidential professions have been carelessly re- 
laxed in most of the States of the Union, and we 
are now suffering great losses and injuries, both 
material and moral, in consequence of thus thought- 
lessly abandoning the safer ways of our fathers. 
It is for the strong universities of the country to 
provide adequate means of training young men 
well for the learned professions, and to set a 
high standard for professional degrees. 

President Gilman, this distinguished assembly 
has come together to give you God-speed. I wel- 
come you to arduous duties and grave responsi- 
bilities. In the natural course of life you will not 
see any large part of the real fruits of your labors ; 
for to build a university needs not years only, but 
generations; but though "deeds unfinished will 
weigh on the doer," and anxieties will sometimes 
oppress you, great privileges are nevertheless 
attached to your office. It is a precious privilege 
that in your ordinary work you will have to do 
onlv with men of refinement and honor; it is a 



12 



glad and animating sight to see successive ranks 
of young men pressing year by year into the battle 
of life, full of hope and courage, and each 3'ear 
better armed and equipped for the strife ; it is a 
privilege to serve society and the country by in- 
creasing the means of culture; but, above all, you 
will have the great happiness of devoting yourself 
for life to a noble public work without reserve, or 
stint, or thought of self, looking for no advance- 
ment, "hoping for nothing again." Knowing well 
by experience the nature of the charge which you 
this day publicly assume, familiar with its cares 
and labors, its hopes and fears, its trials and its 
triumphs, I give you joy of the work to which you 
are called, and welcome you to a service which will 
task your every power. 

The true greatness of States lies not in territory, 
revenue, population, commerce, crops or manufac- 
tures, but in immaterial or spiritual things ; in the 
purity, fortitude and uprightness of their people, 
in the poetry, literature, science and art which they 
give birth to, in the moral worth of their history 
and life. With nations, as with individuals, none 
but moral supremacy is immutable and forever 
beneficent. Universities, wisely directed, store up 
the intellectual capital of the race, and become 
fountains of spiritual and moral power. Therefore 
our whole country may well rejoice with you, that 
you are auspiciously founding here a worthy seat 



13 

of learning and piety. Here may young feet, 
shunning the sordid paths of low desire and 
worldly ambition, walk humbly in the steps of the 
illustrious dead — the poets, artists, philosophers 
and statesmen of the past ; here may fresh minds 
explore new fields and increase the sum of know- 
ledge: here from time to time may great men be 
trained up to be leaders of the people; here may 
the irradiating light of genius sometimes flash out 
to rejoice mankind; above all, here may many 
generations of manly youth learn righteousness. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



IF this assembly, with one voice, could utter 
the thought now uppermost, there would be 
a deep, quick, hearty acknowledgment of the 
bounty of Johns Hopkins. 

His beneficence, so free, so great, so wise, pro- 
moting at once the physical, intellectual and moral 
welfare of his fellow-men, awakens universal sur- 
prise and admiration, and calls for our perpetual 
thanks. 

In respect to the giver, I can say but little to 
you, the citizens of Baltimore, who knew him so 
well ; who remember his industry, sagacity and 
intellectual force ; who have tested his integrity, 
and found that his word was as good as his bond ; 
who recall his fore-sight, his enterprise, and his 
belief in the future of this city and state ; who 
recollect that more than once in financial crises 
he hazarded his own fortune for the protection of 
others ; who heard, it may be from his own lips, 
2 17 



18 

the motives and hopes which prompted these royal 
gifts ; who believe that great acquisitions involve 
great responsibilities, but who know how hard it 
was for one long accustomed to power to yield that 
power to others ; to you, his fellow-citizens, who 
saw the steps by which this benefactor toiled 
upwiird to the temple of Fortune, and there un- 
satisfied, went higher, by more arduous steps, to 
the temple of Charity, where he bestow^ed his 
gifts. 

While I leave to others the commemoration of 
our founder, you must let me refer to the tributes 
of admiration which his generosity has called out 
on the remotest shores of our own land, and in 
the most venerable shrines of European learning. 
The Berkeley laurel and the Oxford ivy may well 
be carved upon his brow when the sculptor shapes 
his likeness ; for by wise men in the east and by 
rich men in the w^est, his gifts are praised as 
among the most timely, the most generous, and 
the most noble ever bestowed by one, for all. 

The genesis of American munificence is a bright 
chapter of our history. From the days of the 
Puritan minister, who gave his name to our oldest 
University, and the days of the London merchant, 
who endowed the second college in JSTew England, 
each generation has surpassed its predecessors. 
It is a striking coincidence that among the very 
earliest names on this heraldic roll, is that which 



19 

our foundation bears. The schools which Edward 
Hopkins, a colonial governor, established in 1660, 
by his will, and his gifts to Harvard, still keep 
alive his name and influence. So may the name 
of our founder live for more than two hundred 
years to come, and his gifts be immortal. Johns 
Hopkins might have used the very words of 
Edward Hopkins, who desired to bestow " some 
encouragement for the breeding up of hopeful 
youths, for the public service of the country in 
future times." 

We may conjecture a spiritual if not a j^hysical 
descent in the line of Hopkins. In 1676, the 
name is written on the door of an endowed gram- 
mar school at A^ew Haven, older than Yale, and 
second onl}^ to Harvard ; in 1776, the name is 
signed to the Declaration of Independence; in 
1876, it distinguishes a University foundation. 
To our cotemporary, we may apply the words 
with which the deeds of the colonial governor 
are recounted. After saying that his last will 
is an interesting monument of private friendship 
and public spirit, that friends and domestics were 
not forgotten, that his public gifts were " for the 
promotion of religion, science and charity," the 
historian adds this eulogy: "I%ws did this lofty 
and intellectual spirit devise and distribute blessings 
in his own age, and by his ivisdom, prepare and make 
them perpetual for succeeding times y 



20 



The Endowment. 

The total amount of the public gifts of Johns 
Hopkins, is more than seven million dolhirs. The 
sum of $3,500,000 is appropriated to a university; 
a like sum to a hospital ; and the rest to local 
institutions of education and charity. Let us com- 
pare these benefactions with some others. Thirty 
years ago, when the gift of Abbott Lawrence to 
Harvard College was made known it was said to 
be " the largest amount ever given at one time 
during the life time of the donor to any public 
institution in this country," — the amount was 
$50,000 ; the gift of Smithson, so well adminis- 
tered in Washington, amounted to over half a 
million ; the foundation of Stephen Girard sur- 
passed two million dollars. 

You may see from these figures what great 
munificence has brought us together. So far as 
I can learn, the Hopkins foundation, coming from 
a single giver, is without a parallel in terms or in 
amount in this or anv land. But beware of exaji- 
geration. These gifts are often spoken of as if the 
whole, instead of the half, was intended for the 
university, and then as if an equal amount was 
given to the hospital ; and so it happens that 
dreams of monumental structures and splendid 
piles and munificent salaries flit through the mind 



21 

which can never become real. Do not forget how 
much wealth is accumulated by older colleges — 
in repute, experience and influence, and also in 
material things. The property of Harvard Col- 
lege is more than five million dollars ; that of 
Yale must equal our endowment. The land invest- 
ments of a university in the Northwest are said to 
exceed these values ; and Ezra Cornell, while he 
lived, expected that the endowments at Ithaca 
would approach, if not surpass, the funds of Har- 
vard. The income yielding funds of Harvard in 
1875 were over three millions ; those of Yale near 
a million and a half. Even these figures look small 
compared with the accumulations of Oxford and 
Cambridge. 

Now turn our capital into income. Our univer- 
sity fund yields a revenue of nearly $200,000. Let 
us compare this amount with the resources of our 
two richest colleges. Harvard, in 1874-5, (in all 
departments), received from tuition $168,541.72; 
from property, $218,715.30 ; a total of $387,257.02. 
The college alone, not including the library, the 
general administration, or any of the special de- 
partments, cost $187,713.20, which is nearly our 
whole income. Yale College reports its academical 
expenses (i. e., exclusive of those in the scientific, 
theological, law, medical and art departments), in 
1874-5, as $126,073.56. 



22 

But all our revenue is not at once available ; for, 
as the capital cannot be spent for buildings, some 
income must be reserved for this. Of course, the 
buildings will be good and costl3^ If now we 
deduct from our income, as a building fund, one 
hundred thousand dollars annually, it will take 
several years to accumulate the requisite amount. 
Of that which remains a large sum will be absorbed 
by taxation, administration and the purchase of 
books, instruments and collections. Thus it is 
evident that the educational income at present is 
not large. Its expenditure requires great discretion 
and prudence. The trustees are men of liberal 
views in respect to professional salaries, but they 
see as clearly as a schoolboy sees through a problem 
in short division that the larger the divisor, the 
less the quotient ; the more salary, the less chairs ; 
the more eminent and costly the teachers, the fewer 
can be secured. I wish that every one who sees 
the need of a great university, and who knows the 
range of human science, would take a pencil and 
distribute our income in the departments which he 
would like to see promoted here. If his experience 
is like mine, he will find that before his pencil has 
half gone down the column of the sciences, the in- 
come has been twice expended. 

I fear that these remarks are a little ungracious, 
and I would gladly repress them ; but the private 
and public utterances of thoughtful men have been 



23 

so vague as to what it is possible for the trustees 
of this university to accomplish at once, and our 
friends are so very generous in their expectations 
that I feel compelled, at the very outset, to utter a 
word of caution. If our physicists could bring us 
"Aladdin's lamp," or our chemists produce "the 
philosopher's stone," or our merchants give us 
"the widow's cruse," our aspirations should not 
be checked by our restricted means ; but, till the 
original benefaction is supplemented by other gifts, 
or the growth of Baltimore increases the value of 
our present investments, we must be contented with 
good work in a limited field. 



Its Five-Fold Advantages. 

To many the magnitude of our founder's bounty 
seems its principal value ; that is, in fact, but half 
its glory. With a self-renunciation which is rare 
and noble, he attached to the gift no burdensome 
condition or personal whim. The almoners of his 
bounty are restrained by no ♦shackles bequeathed 
by a departed benefactor, as they enter upon their 
course bearing in the one hand the ointment of 
charity and in the other the lamp of science. His 
trustees are free — free to determine principles, to 
decide upon methods, to distribute income, to select 
professors, to summon students, and even to alter. 



24 

from time to time, their own plans — as the enlight- 
enment of the world bestows its radiance upon 
their undertaking. 

In selecting trustees the choice of our founder 
fell upon those of his friends and acquaintances 
whom he believed would be free from a desire to 
promote, in their official action, the special tenets 
of any denomination or the platform of any polit- 
ical party. In a land where almost every strong- 
institution of learning is either "a child of the 
church" or "a child of the state," and is thus 
liable to political or ecclesiastical control, he has 
planted the germ of a university which will doubt- 
less serve both church and state the better because 
it is free from the guardianship of either. It was 
his wish — it is our wish — that here should be a 
seat of learning so attractive that at its threshold 
students would gladly cease to discuss sectarian 
animosities and political prejudices, in their eager- 
ness for the acquisition of Knowledge and their 
search for Eternal Truth. As in olden time the 
courtier's and the peasant's, sons laid aside their 
distinctive costumea when they donned the aca- 
demic dress, let us hoi^e that here the onl}^ badges 
will be those which mark the scholar. 

Another advantage attends our foundation. It 
is established in a large town, in an old state, near 
to the financial and the political Capitals of the 
Republic; and at the junction of national high- 



25 

ways which connect the North and the South, the 
East and the West. This is in fact a metropolis 
or middle city. Such geographical considerations 
will surely aifect our future. Baltimore, more- 
over, is prepared for this foundation. Professional 
schools of law, medicine and theology already 
attract large numbers of students. Technical in- 
struction in the useful arts is to some extent pro- 
vided in the Maryland Institute. The votaries of 
the natural sciences are associated in an Academy, 
which only needs an endowment to enable it to 
take rank with kindred societies elsewhere. The 
city, with a liberality which is praised at home 
and abroad, maintains two excellent high schools 
for young ladies, and for young men a City Col- 
lege, so well organized, so well taught and so well 
supported, that it relieves our foundation of doing- 
much which is called "collegiate" in distinction 
from "university" work. There are good private 
schools. There are excellent collections of paint- 
ings and rare opportunities for the study of music, 
both as a science and an art. More than all this 
the foundation of George Peabody, in which a 
capital of a million and a quarter of dollars is 
forever set apart for the promotion of culture, has 
now, with increasing strength, survived the perils 
of infancy, and gained a place among the very 
best establishments to be found in any part of our 
land. Its library is extraordinary for our country; 



26 

not because of its size, (some 60,000 volumes) but 
because it has been selected with an experienced 
eye, among the most modern and most useful of 
the publications of the world. 

The advantage which will come to the new 
University in its medical department from the 
establishment of a hospital, on a separate but allied 
foundation, is most obvious. Obvious though it is, 
the most enlightened can not over-estimate its 
value. If so large a sum as the hospital fund 
($3,500,000) \vere consecrated under any circum- 
stances to the relief of suffering, the promotion of 
health, and the preservation of life — humanity 
would rejoice; but when such a foundation is con- 
nected with a university, so that on the one hand it 
commands all the resources of human learning, 
and on the other makes known through accom- 
plished teachers the results of its experience, we 
may confidently expect that its influence for good 
will be more than doubled ; that its immediate 
work in the care of the sick and wounded will be 
better done than would otherwise be possible; and 
that its remedial and preventive agencies will 
extend to thousands who may never come within 
its walls, but whose ills will be relieved by those 
taught here. 

The timeliness of our foundation is the last of 
the advantages which I shall name. We begin 
our work after discussions lasting for a generation 



27 

respecting the aims, methods, deficiencies, and pos- 
sibilities of higher education in this country ; after 
numerous experiments, some with oil in the lamps 
and some without ; after costly ventures of which 
we reap the lessons, while others bear the loss ; 
after Jefferson, Nott, Wayland, Quincy, Agassiz, 
Tappan, Mark Hopkins, Woolsey, have completed 
their official services and have given us their 
supreme decisions ; while the strong successors of 
these strong men, Eliot, Porter, Barnard, White, 
Angell and McOosh, are still upon the controversial 
platform ; we begin after the national bounty has 
for fourteen years, under the far-reaching bill of 
Senator Morrill of Vermont, promoted scientific 
education ; and after scores of wealthy men have 
bestowed many million dollars for the foundation 
of new institutions of the highest sort. 



Discussions Elsewhere. 

Educational discussions and movements are not 
restricted to our new country. In old England, 
questions like these are constantly rife, (in addition 
to many of purely local interest) : How may pro- 
fessorships in the old universities be restored to 
the dignity or influence, of which they have been 
in part deprived by the excessive prej^onderance of 
collegiate instruction ; how may the university in- 



28 

fluences be extended to all the large towns ; how 
may science gain a more generous recognition in 
the ancient seats of learning ; how may endowments 
for research be established without leadins- to sine- 
cure fellowships ; how may ecclesiastical fetters be 
removed from academic institutions ; how may the 
universities, by their systems of local examinations, 
best promote the welfare of the preparatory schools, 
or the training of young persons who are not likely 
to enter the university ; how may the university 
better provide for the innumerable modern callings, 
which lie outside of the old "professions" but 
require an equal culture. 

In France, there has not been since the Revolu- 
tion, I presume, such interest in the promotion of 
universities as now. I pronounce no opinions, but 
I call attention to the remarkable law which was 
passed last year, relinquishing the exclusiveness of 
a State foundation, and declaring university instruc- 
tion to be free. Those who have hitherto been 
oppressed, as they have thought, by a hard law, 
now seize with alacrity the opportunity to found 
new institutions, and the offerings of the faithful 
are freely poured out to restore to the Church those 
intellectual agencies from which she has been 
cut off. 

At a distance, Germany seems the one country 
where educational problems are determined ; not 
so, on a nearer look. The thoroughness of the 



29 

German mind, its desire for perfection in every 
detail, and its philosophical aptitudes are well illus- 
trated by the controversies now in vogue in the 
land of universities. In following, as we are prone 
to do in educational matters, the example of Ger- 
many, we must beware lest we accept what is there 
cast off; lest we introduce faults as well as virtues, 
defects with excellence. Some of the ablest men in 
the new empire are now questioning whether " the 
Real School " system, after a trial of so many 
years, is justified of its works- — and whether "the 
gymnasium," somewhat modified, should not be 
the training place of all who seek a higher culture. 
Others are questioning whether it is not a mistake 
to maintain polytechnic schools, and special schools 
of agriculture, forestry, mining, etc., apart from 
the universities ; and whether it would not be 
better to combine the higher educational founda- 
tions under one direction and in one centre. Some 
of the best scientific men declare their belief that 
the university instruction in science, following the 
gymnastic discipline, is better far as a preparation 
for what are called the modern pursuits, than the 
training which is given by the Beal school and the 
Polytechnic, and so they assert that an exaggerated 
value has been attached to technical training-. 

I only allude to these discussions in passing. It 
would take many hours to unfold them. But it is 
well to bear in mind that the most enlightened 



30 

institutions in our country, and the most enlight- 
ened countries in Europe, are those in which edu- 
cational discussions are now most lively ; and it 
behooves us, as we engage in a new undertaking, 
to listen, ponder, and observe ; and above all to be 
modest in the announcement of our plans. It 
should make the authorities cautious in oifering, 
and the public cautious in demanding a completed 
scheme for the establishment of a university in 
Baltimore. 

Our caution is none the less needed when we 
remember that at the present moment Americans 
are engaged in promoting the institutions of higher 
education in Tokio, Peking and Beirout^ in Egypt 
and the Hawaiian Isles. The oldest and the re- 
motest nations are lookino; here for lio-ht. 

What is the significance of all this activity ? It 
is a reaching out for a better state of society than 
now exists 5 it is a dim but an indelible imi:>ression 
of the value of learning ; it is a craving for intel- 
lectual and moral growth ; it is a longing to inter- 
pret the laws of creation ; it means a wish for less 
misery among the poor, less ignorance in schools, 
less bigotry in the temple, less suffering in the 
hospital, less fraud in business, less folly in pol- 
itics ; it means more study of nature, more love of 
art, more lessons from history, more security in 
property, more health in cities, more virtue in the 
country, more wisdom in legislation, more intelli- 
gence, more happiness, more religion. 



31 



The Higher Education. 

The institutions which are founded in modern 
society for the promotion of superior education 
may be grouped in five classes :— 1, Universi- 
ties; 2, Learned Societies; 3, Colleges; 4, 
Technical Schools ; and 5, Museums, (including 
literary and scientific collections). It is important 
that the fundamental ideas of these various insti- 
tutions should be borne in mind. 

The University is a place for the advanced spe- 
cial education of youth who have been prepared 
for its freedom by the discipline of a lower school. 
Its form varies in diff'erent countries. Oxford and 
Cambridge universities, are quite unlike the Scotch, 
and still more unlike the Queen's University in 
Ireland ; the University of France has no counter- 
part in Germany ; the typical German universities 
difi*er much from one another. But while forms 
and methods vary, the freedom to investigate, the 
obligation to teach, and the careful bestowal of 
academic honors are always understood to be 
among the university functions. The pupils are 
supposed to be wise enough to select, and mature 
enough to follow the courses they pursue. 

The Academy, or Learned Society, of which the 
Institute of France, with its five academies, and the 
Royal Society of London, are typical examples — 



32 

is an association of learned men, selected for their 
real or reputed merits, who assemble for mutual 
instruction and attrition, and who publish from 
time to time the papers they have received and 
the proceedings in which they have engaged. The 
University is also an association of learned men, 
but the bond which holds them together differs 
essentially from that of the academy. In the uni- 
versities teaching is essential, research important; 
in academies of science research is indispensable, 
tuition rarely thought of. 

The College implies, as a general rule, restriction 
rather than freedom ; tutorial rather than professo- 
rial guidance ; residence within appointed bounds ; 
the chapel, the dining hall, and the daily inspec- 
tion. The college theoretically stands in loco pa- 
rentis; it does not afford a very wide scope; it 
gives a liberal and substantial foundation on which 
the university instruction may be wisely built. 

The Technical Schools present the idea of prepa- 
ration for a specific calling, rather than the notion 
of a liberal culture. They have in view the im- 
parting of knowledge which will be useful in the 
practice of a profession, and often set forward as a 
motive, an assured introduction to the openings 
which are ready for those who have received their 
training. 

Museums, Galleries and Libraries, (of which the 
British Museum is the grandest type), are indeed 



33 



connected with the other agencies we have named, 
but they often have an independent existence. 
They fulfil a two-fold purpose. They preserve 
and store away the treasures of art, literature and 
science ; and they distribute widely among the 
people those seeds of culture which are developed 
by artistic, historic and scientific acquisitions. 

Thus we say that the Academy of Sciences pro- 
motes the intellectual attrition of the most learned 
men ; the University favors the liberal and special 
culture of advanced students ; the College trains 
aspiring youth for their future intellectual freedom ; 
the Technical School affords a good preparation for 
a specific vocation ; and the Museum provides ma- 
terials for study, adapted like the world itself, to 
interest the most profound and the most superficial. 

K^ow it is clear that we mio-ht have a Universitv 
without the four adjuncts I have named; and we 
might have the four accessories without the Univer- 
sity, but practically wherever a strong University 
is maintained, these four-fold agencies revolve 
around it. It is the sun and they are the planets. 
In Baltimore you have hitherto had a College, an 
Academy of Sciences, Professional Schools and a 
Scholars' Library, but you have not had such an 
endowed University as that which is now inaugu- 
rated. 

Indeed this new foundation might almost adopt 
the preamble which John Calvin prefixed to the 
3 



34 



statutes of the Academy of Geneva: " Yerily hath 
God heretofore endowed our commonwealth with 
many and notable adornments, yet hath it to this 
day had to seek abroad for instruction in good arts 
and disciplines for its youth, with many lets and 
hindrances." 

But soon I hope we may add what Erasmus said 
at Oxford : " It is wonderful what a harvest of old 
volumes is flourishing here on every side ; there is 
so much of erudition, not common and trivial, but 
recondite, accurate and ancient, both Greek and 
Latin, that I should not wish to visit Italy, except 
for the gratification of traveling." 

The earliest foundations in our country were 
colleges, not universities. Scholars were often 
graduated early in this century at the age when 
now they enter. Earnest efforts are now making 
to establish universities. Harvard, with a boldness 
which is remarkable, has essentially given up its 
collegiate "restrictions and introduced the benefits 
of university freedom ; Yale preserves its college 
course intact, but has added a school of science and 
developed a strong graduate department ; the Uni- 
versity of Michigan and Cornell University quite 
early adopted the discipline of universities, and 
already equal or surpass not a few of their elder 
sisters ; the University of Virginia from its founda- 
tion has upheld the university in distinction from 
the college idea. The cry all over the land is for 



35 

university advantages, not as superseding but as 
sui:>plementing collegiate discij^line. 

As we, my friends, are called upon to develop a 
university, it becomes important not only to dis- 
tinguish its essential idea from that of any other 
institution, but also to form a clear concej^tion of 
its special province; of various plans which have 
governed its organization ; of the good which it 
promotes ; of the questions which are settled ; of 
the questions which are not settled ; and especially 
of the bearing of all these points on our land, our 
times, our foundation. Thus only shall we make a 
contribution to the intellectual agencies of this 
country, and add a positive gain to American 
learning and education in the second century of 
the Republic. 

The tenor of my remarks has implied perhaps 
more diversity of opinion than really exists in 
respect to universities. The truth is, most institu- 
tions are not free to build anew ; they can only 
readjust. It has been playfully said that "tradi- 
tions and conditions" impede their progress. But 
whatever may be the concrete difficulties, on many 
abstract principles there is little need of contro- 
versy. Our effort will be to accept that which is 
determined, — to avoid that which is obsolescent, 
to study that which is doubtful, — "slowly making- 
haste." 



36 



Twelve Points Determined. 

Is, then, anything settled in respect to university 
education? Much, very much. Can we draw a 
statement of what is agreed upon ? At any rate 
we can try. 

The schedule will include twelve points on which 
there seems to be a general agreement. 

1. All sciences are worthy of promotion ; or in 
other words, it is useless to dispute whether litera- 
ture or science should receive most attention, or 
whether there is any essential diflference between 
the old and the new education. 

2. Religion has nothing to fear from science, and 
science need not be afraid of religion. Religion 
claims to interpret the word of God, and science 
to reveal the laws of God. The interpreters may 
blunder, but truths are immutable, eternal and 
never in conflict. 

3. Remote utility is quite as worthy to be thought 
of as immediate advantage. Those ventures are 
not always most sagacious that expect a return on 
the morrow. It sometimes i)ays to send our 
argosies across the seas ; to make investments with 
an eye to slow but sure returns. So is it always in 
the promotion of science. 

4. As it is impossible for any university to 
encourage with equal freedom all branches of 



37 

learning, a selection must be made by enlightened 
governors, and that selection must depend on the 
requirements and deficiencies of a given people, in 
a given period. There is no absolute standard of 
preference. What is more important at one time 
or in one place may be less needed elsewhere and 
otherwise. 

5. Individual students cannot pursue all branches 
of learning, and must be allowed to select, under 
the guidance of those who are appointed to counsel 
them. Nor can able professors be governed by 
routine. Teachers and pupils must be allowed 
great freedom in their method of work. Recita- 
tions, lectures, examinations, laboratories, libra- 
ries, field exercises, travels, are all legitimate 
means of culture. 

6. The best scholars will almost invariably be 
those who make special attainments on the founda- 
tion of a broad and liberal culture. 

7. The best teachers are usually those who are 
free, competent and willing to make original re- 
searches in the library and the laboratory. 

8. The best investigators are usually those who 
have also the responsibilities of instruction, gaining 
thus the incitement of colleagues, the encourage- 
ment of pupils, the observation of the public. 

9. Universities should bestow their honors with 
a sparing hand; their benefits most freely. 



38 

10. A university cannot be created in a clay ; it 
is a slow growth. The University of Berlin has 
been quoted as a proof of the contrary. That was" 
indeed a quick success, but in an old, compact 
country, crowded with learned men eager to assem- 
ble at the Prussian court. It was a chani2:e of base 
rather than a sudden development. 

11. The object of the university is to develop 
character — to make men. It misses its aim if it 
produces learned pedants, or simple artisans, or 
cunning sophists, or pretentious practitioners. Its 
purport is not so much to impart knowledge to the 
pupils, as to whet the appetite, exhibit methods, 
develop powers, strengthen judgment, and invig- 
orate the intellectual and moral forces. It should 
prepare for the service of society a class of students 
who will be wise, thoughtful, progressive guides in 
whatever de2:)artment of work or thought they may 
be engaged. 

12. Universities easily fall into ruts. Almost 
every epoch requires a fresh start. 

If these twelve points are conceded, our task is 
simplified, though it is still difficult. It is to apply 
these principles to Baltimore in 1876. 

We are trying to do this with no controversy as 
to the relative importance of letters and science, 
the conflicts of religion and science, or the relation 
of abstractions and utilities ; our simple aim is to 
make scholars, strong, bright, useful and true. 



39 

This brings me to the question which has brought 
you here. 

The Johns Hopkins University : what idll he 
its scope"? The Trustees have decided to begin 
with those things which are fundamental and move 
gradually forward to those which are accessory. 

They will institute at first those chairs of lan- 
guage, mathematics, ethics, history and science 
which are commonly grouped under the name of 
the Department of Philosophy. 

The Medical Faculty will not long be delayed ; 
that of Jurisprudence will come in time; that of 
Theology is not now proposed. 

I have lately met with an ancient saying in 
respect to the development of a youth. "At five," 
the precept read, " he was to study the Scriptures ; 
at ten, the Mishna ; at thirteen, the Talmud ; at 
eighteen, to marry ; at twenty, to attain riches ; at 
thirty, strength ; at forty, prudence, and so on to 
the end." So we begin with the essential, proceed 
to the important, expect enlarged endowments, and 
look for strength, prudence and the other virtues 
as we grow in years. 

In organizing a faculty, the first chairs to be 
filled are those which everywhere, always and by 
all people in the modern Republic of Letters, are 
Vegarded as needful. We must provide for the 
study of languages, ancient and modern ; math- 
ematics, pure and applied ; science, natural and 



40 



physical. All this is assumed as granted. But if 
we should do all this well and do nothing more, we 
should not add much to the intellectual resources 
of the country. We must ask ourselves other 
questions : What special departments of learning- 
are now neglected in the higher institutions of this 
country? What can we provide for? In what 
order shall we proceed ? 

These problems require profound consideration; 
their answer must depend on manifold conditions ; 
their solution will doubtless be the result of many 
counsels. Partly to elicit the suggestions of other 
teachers, and partly to exhibit what seem to me 
the inevitable demands of this place, I shall sug- 
gest some of the departments of higher education 
which seem to require attention from us, I can- 
not now tell all I think and hope. 

As a fundamental proposition, bear in mind that 
we shall aim to choose the fittest teachers, and 
shall then expect them to do their very best work. 
None but a college officer will appreciate all that 
this brief sentence carries with it. 



The Medical Sciences and Biology. 

When we turn to the existing provisions fof 
medical instruction in this land and compare them 
with those of Euroj)ean universities; when we see 
what inadequate endowments have been provided 



41 

for our medical schools, and to what abuses the 
system of fees for tuition has led; when we see 
that in some of our very best colleges the degree 
of Doctor of Medicine can be won in half the time 
required to win the degree of Bachelor of Arts ; 
when we see a disposition to treat diplomas as 
blank paper by the civilians at home and the pro- 
fession abroad ; when we read the reports of the 
medical faculty in their own professional journals; 
when we see the difficulties which have been en- 
countered at Harvard, Yale, and elsewhere, in 
late attempts to reorganize the medical schools; 
when we see the prevalence of quackery vaunting 
its diplomas, it is clear that something should be 
done. Then, turning to the other side of the pic- 
ture, when we see what admirable teachers have 
given instruction among us in medicine and sur- 
gery ; what noble hospitals have been created ; 
what marvellous discoveries in surgery have been 
made by our countrymen ; what ingenious instru- 
ments they have contrived ; what humane and 
skillful appliances they have provided on the bat- 
tlefield ; what admirable measures are in progress 
for the advancement of hygiene and the promotion 
of public health ; when we see what success has 
attended recent efforts to reform the system of 
medical instruction ; when we observe all this, we 
need not fear that the day is distant — we may 
rather rejoice that the morning has dawned which 



42 

will see endownents for medical science as munifi- 
cent as those now jirovided for any branch of learn- 
ing, and schools as good as those which are now 
provided in any other land. 

It will doubtless be long, after the opening of 
the University, before the opening of the Hospital, 
and this interval may be spent in forming plans 
for the department of Medicine. 

But in the meantime we have an excellent 
opportunity to provide instruction antecedent to 
the professional study of medicine. At the pre- 
sent moment medical students avoid the ordinary 
colleges. A glance at the catalogues is enough 
to show that the usual classical or academic course 
is unattractive to such scholars. The reasons need 
not be given here. But who can doubt that a 
course may be maintained, like that already begun 
in the Sheffield School at 'New Haven, which shall 
train the eye, the hand and the brain, for the later 
study of medicine ? Such a course should include 
abundant practice in the laboratories of chemistry, 
zoology and physics ; the study of the anatomy, 
physiology, and pathology of the lower forms of 
life ; an investigation of the elements of physics 
and mechanics, and of climatic and meteorlogical 
laws ; the geographical distribution of disease ; the 
remedial agencies of nature and art; and, besides 
these scientific studies, the student should acquire 
enough of French and German to follow with ease 



43 

European science, and enough of Latin for his 
professional needs. In other words, in our scheme 
of a university, great prominence should be given 
to the studies which bear upon Life, — the group 
now called Biological Sciences. 

Such facilities as are now afforded under Huxley 
in London, and Rolleston at Oxford, and Foster 
at Cambridge, and in the best German universities, 
should here be introduced. They would serve us 
in the training of naturalists, but they would serve 
us still more in the training of physicians. By the 
time we are ready to open a school of medicine, we 
might hope to have a superior, if not a numerous, 
body of aspirants for one of the noblest callings to 
which the heart and head can be devoted. 

When the medical department is organized, it 
should be independent of the income derived from 
student fees, so that there may not be the slightest 
temptation to bestow the diploma on an unworthy 
candidate ; or rather let me say, so that the Johns 
Hopkins diploma will not be a greenback, but will 
be worth its face in the currency of the world. 



The Modern Humanities. 

Next to the study of Man, in his relations to 
Nature, comes the study of Man in his relations to 
Society. By this I mean his history, as exemplified 



44 



in the monuments of literature and art, in lan- 
guage, laws and institutions, in manners, morals 
and religion. More particularly still I refer to the 
principles of good government, including jurispru- 
dence on the one hand, and political economy on 
the other. Legislation, taxation^ finance, crime, 
pauperism, municipal government, morality in 
public and private affairs, are among the special 
topics. The civil law, international law, the early 
history of institutions, in short, the history of civil- 
ization and the requirements of a modern State 
come under this department. If we may judge from 
what is said by some of the best publicists, the 
United States, at this moment, is suffering from 
the neglect of these studies. There is a call for 
men who have been trained by other agencies than 
the caucus for the discussion of public affairs ; men 
who know what the experience of the world has 
been in the development of institutions, and are 
prepared by intellectual and moral discipline to 
advance the public interests, irrespective of party, 
indifferent to the attainment of official stations. 
To this end our plans converge. 



National Surveys. 

It is generally conceded by our most influ- 
ential men of science and of affairs, that before 



45 

many years have passed, an accurate survey of 
the area of the United States, corresponding with 
the ordnance and geographical surveys of Great 
Britain, France, Switzerland and German}'^, must 
be undertaken. Under what auspices and upon 
what plan remains to be determined. At present 
the heads of all the governmental surveys acknow- 
ledge the difficulty of finding men enough, qualified 
enough, to carry forward efficiently such work in 
all its manifold departments, astronomical, geodet- 
ical, topographical, meteorological, geological, zoo- 
logical, botanical, economical. If our University 
can provide instructions in these departments of 
physical research, looking forward to the future 
development, not only of Maryland and the Atlantic 
seaboard, but also of the entire land, it will do a 
good service. 

Applied Mathematics. 

There is a department of engineering which ma}* 
also receive special attention here. The needs of 
cities or large towns are such in our day that every 
centre of population, where fifteen or twenty 
thousand persons are assembled, should have the 
services of a competent scientific engineer. He 
must of course have a aeneral mathematical tr^iin- 
ing ; but he should also know how to use these 
fundamental principles in municipal affairs, in the 



46 



preparation of exact maps, in the determination of 
the supplies of water, and the methods of drainage, 
in the construction of roads, boulevards, pleasure 
grounds and parks, the building of wharves and 
docks, the supervision of gas works and fire 
engines, the erection of public buildings, monu- 
ments and places of assembly. There should be a 
recognized j^reparation for this work of civic or 
municipal engineering — in distinction from civil 
engineering, which is a more vague and general 
term, including perhaps the subordinate branches 
to which I have referred. 

Architecture is closely connected with this de- 
partment. So far as I am aware there are now, in 
this new country where so much building is in 
progress, but two schools for the professional study 
of this, the first of arts. 

I can hardly doubt that such arrangements as 
we are maturing will cause this institution to be a 
place for the training of professors and teachers for 
the highest academic posts ; and I hope in time to 
see arrangement made for the unfolding of the 
philosophy, princij^les and methods of education 
in a way which will be of service to those who 
mean to devote their lives to the highest depart- 
ments of instruction. 

But in forming all these plans we must beware 
lest we are led away from our foundations ; lest we 
make our schools technical instead of liberal ; and 



47 

impart a knowledge of methods rather than of 
principles. If we make this mistake, we may have 
an excellent Polytechnicum but not a University. 



The Faculty and Students. 

Who shall our teachers be 9 

This question the public has answered for us ; 
for I believe there is scarcely a preeminent man of 
science or letters, at home or abroad, who has not 
received a popular nomination for the vacant pro- 
fessorships. Some of these candidates we shall 
certainly secure, and their names will be one by 
one made known. But I must tell you, in domestic 
confidence, that it is not an easy task to transplant 
a tree which is deeply rooted. It is especially 
hard to do so in our soil and climate. Though a 
migratory people, our college professors are fix- 
tures. Such local college attachments are not 
known in Germany ; and the promotions which 
are frequent in Germany are less thought of here. 
When we think of calling foreign teachers, we 
encounter other difficulties. Many are reluctant 
to cross the sea ; and others are, by reason of 
their lack of acquaintance with our language and 
ways, unavailable. Besides we may as well admit 
that London, Paris, Leipsic, Berlin and Vienna, 
afford facilities for literary and scientific growth 



48 

and influence, far beyond what our country affords. 
Hence, it is probable that among our own country- 
men, our faculty will be chiefly found. 

I wrote, not long ago, to an eminent physicist, 
presenting this problem in social mechanics, for 
which I asked his solution. " We cannot have a 
great university without great professors ; we can- 
not have great professors till we have a great 
university: help us from the dilemma." Let me 
tell his answer : " Your difficulty," he says, 
"applies only to old men who are great; these 
you can rarely move; but the young men of 
I genius, talent, learning and promise, you can 
draw. They should be your strength." 

The young Americans of talent and promise — 
there is our strength, and a noble company they 
are! We do not ask from what college, or what 
state, or what church they come ; but what do they 
know, and what can they do, and what do they 
want to find out. 

In the biographies of eminent scholars, it is 
curious to observe how many indicated in youth 
preeminent ability. Isaac Casaubon, whose name 
in the sixteenth century shed lustre on the learned 
circles of Geneva, Montpellier, Paris, London and 
Oxford, began as professor of Greek, at the age of 
twenty-two; and Heinsius, his Leyden cotemporary, 
at eighteen. It was at the age of twenty-eight, 
that Linnaeus first published his Systema Naturae. 



^ 



49 



Cuvier was appointed a professor in Paris at 
twenty-six, and, a few months later, a member of 
the Institute. James Kent, the great commentator 
on American law, began his lectures in Columbia 
College at the age of thirty-one. Henry was not 
far from thirty years of age when he made his 
world-renowned researches in electro-magnetism ; 
and Dana's great work on mineralogy was first 
published before he was twenty-five years old, and 
about four years after he graduated at Xew Haven. 
Look at the Harvard lists: — Everett was appointed 
Professor of Greek at twenty-one; Benjamin Peirce 
of Mathematics at twenty-four; and Agassiz was 
not yet forty when he came to this country. For 
fifty years Yale College rested on three men selected 
in their youth by Dr. Dwight, and almost simul- 
taneously set at work; Day was twenty-eight, Silli- 
man, twenty-three, and Kingsley, twenty-seven, 
when they began their professorial lives. The 
University of Virginia, early in its history, at- 
tracted foreign teachers, who were all young men. 
We shall hope to secure a strong staff of young 
men, appointing them because they have twenty 
years before them ; selecting them on evidence 
of their ability; increasing constantly their emolu- 
ments, and promoting them because of their merit 
to successive posts, as scholars, fellows, assistants, 
adjuncts, professors and university professors. This 
plan will give us an opportunity to introduce some 
4 



50 



of the features of the English fellowship and the 
German system of privat-docents ; or in other 
words, to furnish positions where young men desi- 
rous of a university career may have a chance to 
begin, sure at least of a support while waiting for 
promotion. 

Our plans begin but do not end here. As men 
of distinction, who have won the highest rank in 
their callings, are known to be free, we shall invite 
them to come among us. 

For a time, at least, we shall also look to the 
faculties of other colleges for occasional help. 
Many years ago, among the plans for establishing 
a university, in distinction from a college, at Cam- 
bridge, Professor Peirce proposed that various col- 
leges should send up for a portion of the year, and 
for a term of years, their best professors, who 
should receive a generous acknowledgment for 
this service, and good opportunities for work, but 
should not renounce their college homes. With- 
out having heard of his plan, which I think had 
not been made public, the Trustees of the Johns 
Hopkins University have worked out a kindred 
scheme. They propose to ask distinguished pro- 
fessors from other colleges to come to us during a 
term of years, each to reside here for an appointed 
time, and be accessible, publlce et privatim, both in 
the lecture room and the study. 



51 

Where do we look for students f 

At first, at home, in Baltimore and Maryland ; 
then, in the States adjacent ; then, in the regions 
of our country where, by the desolations of war, 
educational foundations have been impaired ; and 
presently, according to the renown of the faculty, 
which we are able to bring here, and the complete- 
ness of the establishment, we hope that our influ- 
ence will be national. 

Of what grade will they be? Mature enough to 
be profited by university education. The exact 
standard is not yet fixed. It must depend on the 
colleges and schools around us; there must be no 
gap in the system, and w^e must keep ahead, but 
the discussions now in progress, respecting the City 
College, Agricultural College and St. John's College, 
must delay our announcements. Our standard will 
doubtless be as high as the community requires. 

What imll the buildings he 1 

At first, temporary, but commodious; in the 
heart of the city, accessible to all ; and fitted for 
lectures, laboratories, library and collections. At 
length, permanent, on the site at Clifton ; not a 
mediaeval pile, I hope, but a series of modern 
institutions ; not a monumental, but a serviceable 
group of structures. The middle ages have not 
built any cloisters for us ; why should we build for 
the middle ages? In these days laboratories are 






demanded on a scale and in a variety hitherto 
unknown, for chemistry, physics, geology and 
mineralogy, comparative anatomy, physiology, 
pathology. Oxford with its IN'ew Museum ; Cam- 
bridge with its Cavendish laboratory; Owens Col- 
lege with its excellent work-rooms ; South Ken- 
sington with the new apartments of Huxley and 
Frankland ; Leipsic, Vienna, Berlin, all afford 
illustrations of the kind of structures we shall 
need. Already measures have been initiated for 
the improvement of Clifton as a university site. 
Although it will take time to develop the plans, I 
hope that we shall all live to see the day when the 
simplicity, the timeliness, and the strength which 
characterized our founder's gift, will be also appa- 
rent in the structures which his trustees erect ; 
and when that site, beautiful in itself and already 
well planted, may be, in fact, an academic grove, 
with temples of learning, so appropriate, so true, 
and so well built that no other ornament will be 
essential for beauty, and yet that in their neigh- 
borhood no work of art will be out of place. 

Our affiliations deserve mention. Already harmo- 
nious relations have been established between this 
University and the Peabody Institute, the Academy 
of Sciences, and the City College, and the depart- 
ments of State and City Education. I may also 
add that the authorities of the scientific institutions 
in Washington have evinced in many ways good 



53 

will toward their new ally in Baltimore. As this 
University grows, we may anticipate perpetual 
advantages from its proximity to the national 
caj^ital, where the Smithsonian Institution, the 
Engineer Corps, the Naval Observatory, the Coast 
Survey, the Signal Service, the Botanical Gardens, 
the Congressional Library, the T^ational Museum, 
the Territorial Surveys, the Army Medical and 
Surgical Collections, and the Corcoran Art Gallery 
are such powerful instruments for the advancement 
of science, literature and art. 

The relation of this University to the higher 
education of women has not been as yet discussed 
by the Trustees, and doubtless their future conclu- 
sions will depend very much upon the way in 
which the subject is brought forward. I am not at 
liberty to speak for them, but personally have no 
hesitation in saying that the plans pursued in the 
University of Cambridge (England), especially in 
the encouragement of Girton College, seem likely 
to afford a o;ood solution of a loroblem which is 
not without difficulty, however it is approached. 
Of this I am certain, that they are not among the 
wise, who depreciate the intellectual capacity of 
women, and they are not among the prudent, who 
would deny to women the best opportunities for 
education and culture. 

I trust the day is near when some one, following 
the succession of Peabody and Hopkins, will insti- 



54 



tute here a "Girton College," which may avail 
itself of the advantages of the Peabody and 
Hopkins foundations, without obliging the pupils 
to give up the advantages of a home, or exposing 
them to the rougher influences which I am sorry 
to confess are still to be found in colleges and 
universities where young men resort. For the 
establishment in Baltimore of such a hall as Girton 
I shall confidentlv look. 



The University Freedom. 

If we would maintain a university, great freedom 
must be allowed both to teachers and scholars. 
This involves freedom of methods to be employed 
by the instructors on the one hand, and on the 
other, freedom of courses to be selected by the 
students. 

But this freedom is based on laws, — two of which 
cannot be too distinctly or too often enunciated. 
A law which should govern the admission of pupils 
is this, that before they win this privilege they 
must have been matured by the long, preparatory 
discipline of superior teachers, and by the sys- 
tematic, laborious, and persistent pursuit of funda- 
mental knowledge; and a second law, which sliould 
govern the work of professors, is this, that with 
unselfish devotion to the discoverv and advance- 



55 

ment of truth and righteousness, they renounce 
all other preferment, so that, like the greatest 
of all teachers, they may promote the good of 
mankind. 

I see no advantage' in our attempting to main- 
tain the traditional four-year class-system of the 
American colleges. It has never existed in the 
University of Virginia; it is modified, though not 
nominally given up at Harvard ; it is not an im- 
portant characteristic of Michigan and Cornell ; it 
is not known in the English, French or German 
universities. It is a collegiate rather than a uni- 
versity method. If parents or students desire us 
to mark out prescribed courses, either classical or 
scientific, lasting four years, it will' be easy to do 
so. But I apprehend that many students will 
come to us excellent in some branches of a liberal 
education and deficient in others — good perhaps in 
Greek, Latin and mathematics ; deficient in chem- 
istry, physics, zoology, history, political economy, 
and other progressive sciences. I would give to 
such candidates on examination, credit for their 
attainments, and assign them in each study the 
place for which they are fitted. A proficient in 
Plato may be a tyro in Euclid. Moreover, I would 
make attainments rather than time the condition 
of promotion ; and I would encourage every scholar 
to go forward rapidly or go forward slowly, accord- 
ing to the fleetness of his foot and his freedom from 



56 



impediment. In other words, I would have our 
University seek the good of individuals rather 
than of classes. 

The sphere of a university is sometimes re- 
stricted by its walls, or is limited to those who are 
enrolled on its lists. There are three particulars 
in which we shall aim at extra-mural influence : 
first, as an examining body, ready to examine and 
confer degrees or other academic honors on those 
who are trained elsewhere; next, as a teaching 
body, by opening to educated persons (whether 
enrolled as students or not) such lectures as they 
may wish to attend, under certain restrictions — on 
the plan of the lectures in the high seminaries of 
Paris; and, finally, as in some degree at least a 
publishing body, by encouraging professors and 
lecturers to give to the world in print the results 
of their researches. 



Conclusion. 

Let us now, as we draw near the close of this 
allotted hour, turn from details and recur to gen- 
eral principles. 

What are we aiming at ? 

An enduring foundation ; a slow development ; 
first local, then regional, then national influence ; 



57 

the most liberal promotion of all useful knowledge ; 
the special provision of such departments as are 
elsewhere neglected in the country ; a generous 
affiliation with all other institutions, avoiding inter- 
ferences, and engaging in no rivalry ; the encour- 
agement of research ; the promotion of young men ; 
and the advancement of individual scholars, who 
by their excellence will advance the sciences they 
pursue, and the society where they dwell. 

No words could indicate our aim more fitly than 
those by which John Henry Newman expresses his 
" Idea of the University," in a page burning w^th 
enthusiasm, to which I delight to revert. 

What will be our agencies ? 

A large staff of teachers ; abundance of instru- 
ments, apparatus, diagrams, books, and other 
means of research and instruction ; good labora- 
tories, with all the requisite facilities ; accessory 
influences, coming both from Baltimore and Wash- 
ington ; funds so unrestricted, charter so free, 
schemes so elastic, that as the world goes forward, 
our plans will be adjusted to its new requirements. 

What will he our methods ? 

Liberal advanced instruction for those who want 
it ; distinctive honors for those who win them ; 
appointed courses for those who need them ; special 
courses for those who can take no other ; a combi- 



58 

nation of lectures, recitations, laboratory practice, 
field work and private instruction ; the largest dis- 
cretion allowed to the Faculty consistent with the 
purposes in view; and, finally, an appeal to the 
community to increase our means, to strengthen 
our hands, to supplement our deficiencies, and espe- 
cially to surround our scholars with those social, 
domestic and religious influences which a corpora- 
tion can at best imperfectly provide, but which 
may be abundantly enjoyed in the homes, the 
churches and the private associations of an enlight- 
ened Christian city. 

Citizens of Baltimoee and Maryland : — 
This great undertaking does not rest upon the 
Trustees alone ; the whole community has a share 
in it. However strong our purposes, they will be 
modified, inevitably, by the opinions of enlightened 
men ; so let parents and teachers incite the youth 
of this commonwealth to high aspirations ; let wise 
and judicious counsellors continue their helpful 
suggestions, sure of being heard with grateful con- 
sideration ; let skillful writers, avoiding captious- 
ness on the one hand and compliment on the other, 
uphold or refute or amend the tenets here an- 
nounced ; let the guardians of the press diffuse 
widelv a knowled2:e of the benefits which are here 
provided ; let men of means largely increase the 
usefulness of this woi'k by their timely gifts. 



59 

At the moment there is nothing which seems to 
me so important, in this region, and indeed in the 
entire land, as the promotion of good secondary 
schools, preparatory to the universities. There are 
old foundations in Maryland which require to be 
made strong, and there is room for newer enter- 
prises, of various forms. Every large town should 
have an efficient academy or high school ; and men 
of wealth can do no greater service to the public 
than by liberally encouraging, in their various 
places of abode, the advanced instruction of the 
young. None can estimate too highly the good 
which came to England from the endowment of 
Lawrence Sheriff at Rugby, and of Queen Eliza- 
beth's school at Westminster, or the value to IN'ew 
England of the Phillips foundations in Exeter and 
Andover. 

Every contribution made by others to this new 
University will enable the Trustees to administer 
with greater liberality their present funds. Special 
foundations may be affiliated with our trust, for 
the encouragement of particular branches of know- 
ledge, for the reward of merit, for the construction 
of buildings ; and each gift, like the new recruits 
of an army, will be the more efficient because of the 
place it takes in an organized and efficient com- 
pany. It is a great satisfaction in this world of 
changes and pecuniary loss to remember what safe 
investments have been made at Harvard and Yale, 



60 

and other old colleges, where dollar for dollar is 
still shown for every gift. 

The atmosi^here of Maryland seems favorable to 
such deeds of piety, hospitality and " good-will to 
men." George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, 
comes here, returns to England and draws up a 
charter which becomes memorable in the annals of 
civil and religious liberty, for which, " he deserves 
to be ranked," (as Bancroft says), " among the 
most wise and benevolent lawo-ivers of all au'es ; " 
among the liberals of 1776 none was bolder 
than Charles Carroll of Carrollton ; John Ea^^er 
Howard, the hero of Cowpens, is almost equally 
worthy of gratitude for the liberality of his public 
gifts ; John McDonogh, of Baltimore birth, be- 
stows his fortune upon two cities for the instruction 
of their youth ; George Peabody, resident here in 
early life, comes bcick in old age to endow an 
Athenaeum, and begins that outpouring of munifi- 
cence which gives him a noble rank among modern 
philanthropists ; Moses Sheppard bequeaths more 
than half a million for the relief of mental disease ; 
Binehart, the teamster boy, attains distinction as 
a sculptor, and bestows his well-won acquisitions 
for the encouragement of art in the city of his 
residence ; and a Baltimorean still living, provides 
for the foundation of an astronomical observatory 
in Yale College ; while Johns Hopkins lays a foun- 



61 

dation for learning and charity, which we celebrate 
to-day. 

Let me enlist attention from the youth of Bal- 
timore. For you, my young friends, these great 
advantages are provided. What will be your 
response? Is there not among you some book- 
binder's boy, like Michael Faraday, who will be 
led by our Royal Institution to a line of research 
for which the w^orld will be better; is there not 
here some private teacher, like Cuvier, or some 
minister's son, like Agassiz, burning with a desire 
to pursue the study of natural history; is there not 
some sophomore in college, like Alexander Hamil- 
ton, ready to discuss the questions of public finance, 
eager to be trained by a master economist; is there 
not in Baltimore a genius in mathematics, like 
Gauss, who at three years old corrected his father's 
arithmetic, at eighteen entered the University of 
Gottingen where he made a discovery which had 
puzzled geometers "from the days of Euclid," and 
who died at seventy-seven, among the most emi- 
nent of his time? If so, I say it is for you, bright 
youths, that these doors are opened. Enter the 
armory and equip yourselves. 

Gentlemen OF the Board of Trustees:— The 
duty you assigned me of unfolding your plans is 
now imperfectly discharged. I hope that I have 



62 



not struck too low a key in speaking of the oppor- 
tunities, and on the contrary, that I have not said 
anything in rivalry or boast. If I have seemed 
cautious, you are sanguine, invigorated by the 
force of a lofty purpose, and the comforting con- 
sciousness of ample means. If I have seemed 
sanguine, you are cautious, aware that there are 
other institutions, older, richer, and more expe- 
rienced than this, whose example we must study, 
and whose help we must seek. 

Before concluding, I repeat in public the assent 
which I have privately made to your official over- 
tures. In speaking of your freedom from sectarian 
and political control, you expressed to me a hope 
that this foundation should be pervaded by the 
spirit of an enlightened Christianity ; while you 
proposed to train young men for the service of the 
State and the responsibilities of public life, you 
hoped the University would never engage in sec- 
tional, partisan and provincial animosities. In 
both these propositions I now as then express my 
cordial and entire concurrence. 

Our work now begins. This place is felicitous, 
midway between the extremes of Ts^orth and South, 
and redolent of memories of men and women 
whose names the world will never forget. This 
day is suggestive, reminding us of one whose wise 



63 

moderation wrought great achievements. This year 
is auspicious, inviting us to sink political animosi- 
ties in sentiments of fraternal good will, and of 
patriotic regard for a re-united republic. This 
company is inspiring ; the city, the state, and the 
older seats of learning, far and near, here express 
their good will. Most welcome among their utter- 
ances are the words with which the oldest college 
in the land extends its fellowship to the youngest 
of the band. 

So, friends and colleagues, we launch our bark 
upon the Patapsco, and send it forth to unknown 
seas. May its course be guided by looking to the 
heavens and the voyage promote the glory of God 
and the good of Mankind. 

Permit one word of a personal character before 
I take my seat. My life thus far has been spent 
in two universities, one full of honors, the other of 
hopes ; one led by experience, the other by expecta- 
tions. May the lessons of both, the old and the 
new, be wisely blended here. There is not a place 
in all the land which I should be so glad to fill as 
that in which I have been placed by your favorable 
consideration ; but the burdens will be heavy unless 
your kind indulgence is continued. Standing 
almost within sight of the monument which has 
given a name to this city, do not deem it pre- 
sumptous if I adopt the words which Washington 



64 



addressed to the citizens of Baltimore in 1789, and 
say on his memorial day, as he said then : 



"I know the delicate nature of the duties incident to the part 
I am called to perform, and I feel my incompetence without the 
singular assistance of Providence to discharge them in a satisfac- 
tory manner; but having undertaken the task from a sense of 
duty, no fear of encountering difficulties, and no dread of losing 
popularity shall ever deter me from pursuing what I take to be 
the true interests of mv countrv." 



The Instructions op the Johns Hopkins TJniversity Will 
commence in baltimore, october 3, 1876. a prospectus 
will be sent on application. 









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